Why the Nexus One is a Big Game Changer for Android

As we’ve said in an earlier post, we think Google’s Nexus One is a great device. We tried it out, we loved it, and we begged our oversees friends to get a couple of them shipped to Sweden. While we’re waiting for them to arrive we though we would give our thoughts as to why we think the Nexus One is such a big deal.

Every time a new premium phone is launched with the latest and greatest tech specs, of course people are going to want it. It was the case with the first Android phone, the HTC Hero, the Droid, and now the Nexus One. But it’s different this time. Some might argue that it’s because an Android phone is finally catching up with the iPhone (for real this time), but we think it’s different this time because of Google finally showing it’s true commitment to the platform they launched over 2 years ago.

The Nexus One shows that Google got tired of all the inferior phones created on a whim by hardware pushing companies using their platform and decided they needed to show them how it’s done. To show how good an Android phone can actually be. Having done this, we think this is just the beginning of an era of Google trying to take control of the mobile market and pushing it’s Android platform. We think they’ve already succeeded in making a groundbreaking device, now they need to work on the other parts of the platform where they still lag behind Apple, which is mainly the Android Market, but also content distribution (ie. music, audiobooks, magazines) where we think interesting things will happen. We (wishingly) think that this is what’s next for Google. Just as Apple released the iPhone a year and a half before the AppStore, we think Google needed an Android phone they were really proud of before they could focus on the Android Market and the developer community. I mean, what better way to persuade developers and content producers than to create a really cool device for their stuff? And add to that the increasing Android market share that the Nexus One hopefully will spur. More Android devices, bigger market, more money.

Another point of interest is the potentially big advantage that Google now has over Apple and other competitors, being in control of so many of the web services that mobile users already are dependent on, and ending 2009 with a slew of groundbreaking new services that will take competitors a long time to catch up on. Google are offering these as open source with their Android releases but as we saw with the Nexus One, we suspect they will keep releasing these ahead of the competition coincident with new Google phone releases.

To sum up, we think Google are on right on the track with their mobile strategy. Now they just have to keep pushing and working hard to create great products and services and perfecting the complete Android experience, and we’re confident that Google has the right people to get the job done. The biggest strategic question they have to handle right now is how they are going to tip-toe around the fact that they now are competitors to other Android handset makers. But the move has been made, and we think it’s the right one.